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can't pump gas?

J

joe'ssvt

New CEG'er
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
13
Hi all. This is my first post here but yes, I did do a bit of searching before I decided to ask this question. Hopefully it's not something that's asked frequently as I'd feel incredibly dumb for not having found it through a search. Anyway, the problem arises when I go to fill up my tank. Regardless of the fuel level in the tank, the pump acts as if the tank is full (i.e. it "shuts off" and will only allow about 8 cents at a time.) I know there is some form of valve that opens and closes to let the pump know when it is near full, but I'm not sure what I should do to replace it or make it work again. This problem truly is obnoxious as it takes about 5minutes to pump $10 worth of gas. Hopefully someone has encountered this before and can let me know what to do. Anyway, thanks in advance.
 
Yeah I did a search but didn't really know what keywords to use other than "gas" "pump" and "tank" neither of which yielded anything.
 
The flapper sticks on 98 SVT's. There was a recall but it's long expired. You can drop the tank and put in a revised flapper or keep sticking a coat hanger down the fill tube.
 
So it's actually located in the tank? That's a bummer as I'm not keen on doing any more extensive repairs to this thing. Also, I didn't know that recalls had expiration dates? Maybe I can coerce ford into doing it since I've bought so many parts from them over the last few months.
 
todras said:
The flapper sticks on 98 SVT's. There was a recall but it's long expired. You can drop the tank and put in a revised flapper or keep sticking a coat hanger down the fill tube.
Click to expand...

Doesn't this problem apply to pre98s also? I know sometimes I can not pump gas without it stopping... Try pulling the nozzle out a little ways and hold it up rather than letting it rest like usual... This normally works for me, and then I listen for the increase in pitch so I know when it starts coming up the fill line, then I know it is actually full and not just screwing with me...
 
I've tried holding it in different positions with no luck unfortunately. I guess I'll have to do the ol' coat hanger trick. I had forgotten about that one until it was posted here :cool: My dad owned the car before I did and gave it to me when the timing gear stripped. Over the course of so many months I was just focused on getting it back together and forgot all about this stupid problem. He used to use the coat hanger as well.
 
when i had my zetec it would do that everytime i had to fill up , luckily for me i just had to turn the pump nozzle sideways and everything would be cool
 
Sometimes it helps if you gas up first thing in the morning or if you don't gas up when the temperature is really hot and you just came off the highway.
 
Even though you've tried holding it different ways, try this:

pull the nozzle out from the normally-flush position you would rest it in about a 1/4" to 3/8". Pump slowly for the first 3 or 4 tenths of a gallon then speed up gradually.

Aside from that, open the flapper manually with a hanger, or replace it by dropping the tank as mentioned above.
 
I have this problem too, do as the guy stated in the post above me, it works. I have to pull it out close to half way in order to pump but be careful, one time when I did that and turned the gas on and took my hand off the gun the gun came shooting out along with some gas. Yeah, I wasn't happy.
 
Thanks guys. It seems that on some pumps it'll work, on others it won't so I guess it's kinda luck of the draw. I'm going to keep a coat hanger in my car from now on though.
 
To research previous discussions, SEARCH for "flapper".

You'll find more than a dozen previous discussions which have covered this problem in great detail.

Steve
 
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